Hosiery with strain absorbing zone reinforced against curling



' 5 verse direction lying in the form of va circumferential channel whenthe stocking is un'worn,

regantes telit, les? Hosmar wrm s'rnm assomme. zoNE REINFORCED AGQNSTCUBJNG l Richard H. Scheer, New Holland, Pa., assignor to vanity FairSilk Millsylteading, Pa., a corporation/of lPennsylvania ApplicationDecember 2 4, 193s.' 'serial No. 111,591 claims. (ci. 'ca 172i Y Thisinvention relates to hosiery of that type in which a circumferentialzone of fine grade covered elastic yarn is integrally interposed in the'knitting above the knee, having so freeI and extensive a stretch,longitudinally of the stocking, as to function as a strain absorber,'relieving the parts of the stocking :below said zone from excessivestresses, thus preventingfladderlng.

'In order for the strain absorbing zone yto be entirely effective, itmust consist of a great many courses of the knit rubber yarn. Forexample, I

have made stockings with adequate strain ab sorbing. qualities havingthirty-six covered elastic rubber-courses in the strain absorbing zoneand while the number of such courses is not critical,- it is to belunderstood that a very few courses will be insuiiicient to produce thedesired result.

The .obvious manner of producing a strain abr sorbing zone is toknita'wide bandof the. ne gage covered rubber yarn in Ithe stocking belowthe welt and above the knee. It has been found however,` that merelyknitting such a wide `strain v absorbing band or zone has not beenpractical f from the commercial standpoint inasmuch as the band is givento curling concavely in a transimpairing its sales apearance.

Patent No. 1,929,006, granted October 3, 1933, to Howard B. Shader,covers a means for avoiding` this objectionable curled appearance. In`said patent, the strain absorber consists of a plurality of narrow finegage covered elastic rubber yarn bands alternating 4with narrow bands ofof-'the fabric in the strain absorbing zone.-

v Other objects of the invention will appear as the followingdescription of a preferred an practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the accompanying drawing throughout kthe several figures of which thesame characters of reference have been employed -to designate identicalparts: V f

Figure 1 is a side elevation'showing the upper the present invention;

. thereby augmenting the longitudinal elongation portion of a stockingembodying the principle of Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view illustratinga typical stitch by means of which tlie ,reinforcing rib is formed inthe midst of the ,elastic rubber f l. Figure 3 is a viewvslmila'r tothat of lFigure l, but on a somewhat reduced scale illustrating thecurling which is inherent in a .wide band of ne the basic fabric of thestocking. The aggregate number of rubber yarn courses represents thetotal number of courses in the strain absorbing zone and is commensuratewith the exemplary number of courses noted, above. v

Since the strain absorbing zone formed s described in my aforementionedpatent is spread over quite a'wide portion of the stocking; this may beobjectionable' to some part of the' purchasing public so that a greatdealof considera-l tiony and experimentation h as been devoted to thequest of nding other means eective for the prevention of curling of therubber fabric in-the' strain absorbing zone.

The object of the provide in a strain absorbingzone a4 wide bend ofcovered elastic rubber yarn fortified against transverse curling by acircumferential rib extending through the median portion of thecoveredelastic rubber yarn zone and itself being of covered elastic rubberyarn, the elements ,V ofwhich are constituted as thickened `transversewales and preferably extending obliquely with respect to the rib so thatin the act ofv stretching they swing to a substantiallyperpendicularposition with respect to the direction of the courses.

. 'j fi e present invention is to* gage covered elastic rubber yarn;.and

Figure 4 illustrates the ridges or wales swung to apositionperpendicular tothe direction of the courses in the stretching of thestocking.

Referring now in detail to the several figures the numeral I representstwelt portion of a knit stocking, having the'str n absorbing zone 2 belowthe welt and above the knee. The numeral 3 represents a portion of thestocking belowrthe' strain absorbing zone andy above theknee. The'stocking is of that type knit from fine gage yarns, is of delicatetexture and susceptible to ladderings or runners. The inventioncontemplates a stocking which will besupported from the top of the weltso that there `will normally be some longitudinal stress in the fabric.`When the knee is bent,-

there Vwill be an extraordinary strain on the stocking fabricparticularly in the-region f the bulge of the knee. It is the functionof the strain absorbing zone 2 to stretch preferentially to the basicfabric of the stocking when such a strainV occurs. vThe stocking fabricis quite'elastic due to the looseness of the mesh in the knitting and itis essential that the fabric in the strain absorbing zone l be even moreelastic in order` that the stresses in the stocking fabric below thestrain absorbing zone shall be transferred to the fabric insaldzone'. w.4

The strain absorbing zone is therefore knit of fine gage covered rubberyarn,- preierably of latex, the une gage of the yarn together with the`very stretchable nature of the latex making the 'rubber yarn much morefreely stretchable than the basic stocking fabric. The'strain absorbingzone is-knit integrally withv the adjacent portions vof the stocking. Aswas suggested inthe object of the invention, it requires more than a fewcourses of .the rubber'yarnto provide a sufficiently ex;

tensive strain absorbing zone be adequate for -bility ofv the strainabsorbing zone.

the needles tensions the rubber yarn. It isl an inherent characteristicof the wide rubber strain -absorbing zone that dueto the tensioning ofthe.

rubber it curls concavefiy in a. transverse direction as shown at I inFigure .I This curling is disastrous to the appearance of the stockingwhen unworn since it produces a circumferential channel which isunsightly.

The present invention provides a circumferential mid-rib 5, in therubber elastic strain absorbing zone which stilfens it and therebyreduces the curl to such an extent that it is practically imperceptible.Incidentally the rib as will appear increases the longitudinal extensiitwill be understood that the rib 5 is not produced by the intercalationof courses of the basic fabric or any other type of yarn. It is integraland homogeneous with the ne gage covered rubber yarn zone in which itappears. The nature of this reinforcing rib 5 will be best understoodfrom a consideration of Figure 2 in which all of the knitting shown isWithin the strain absorbing band and therefore composed of the fine gagecovered elastic'yarn. 'I'he upper and lower parts 6 and 1 representundifferentiated knitting. The middle portion or mid-rib 5 is formed bya circumferential row of picot or lace stitches t. By preference thetransferred stitches 8 are advanced in eachcourse, so that the line ofpicot or lace stitches will be oblique with respect to the direction ofthe courses. This is not essential however for if the rows of lacestitches extend longitudinally they will still constitute a. mid-ribwhich will resist the curling in the middle of the strain absorbingband.

The effect of transferring the loops in making the picot or lacestitches is to place two stitches 9 and l0 on every loop forming obliquebars II of double thickness and in parallel circumferential series asshown. These project, in relief in the same manner as wales and aresufficiently stiff to resist the tendency of the strain absorbing bandto curl. At the sam time, the mid-rib 5 being made-of covered rubberelastic yarn of ne gage, is stretchable and forms an integral part ofthe strain absorbing zone. The value of having the bars Il run obliquelyaround the middle of the strain absorbing zone is that when longitudinal.stress is placed upon the stocking and the fabric of the strainabsorbing zone is expanded in the direction longitudinally of thestocking, the said bars will freely swing from oblique position to aposition in line with the wales of those portions of the fabricrepresented by the reference numerals 6 and 1 as shown at I2 in Figure 4so that whatever decrease in elasticity of the bars Il may be attributedto the doubling of the loops in said bars -is oif-setrby the change inthe position of the bars from oblique to longitudinal.

It is to be understood by those skilled in the art that the particularpattern of stitching shown in the drawing and described, is merely byway of example and not to be construed as limiting the scope of theinvention which includes any the intended purpose. Quite a wide band isand all patterns capable'of accomplishing the same purpose.

What I claim is:

1. Knit hosiery having an elastic strain absorbing zone integrally knitfrom nne gage covered elastic rubber yarn,of such Width as to have aninherent tendency to objectionable curling, the elastic rubber fabric insaid zone being formed With elongatedthickened portions of lesselasticlty than the basic fabric of said zone, obliquely positioned withrespect to the direction of stretch,

-stretching with the basic fabric, but at a less rate, so that saidthickened portions move. into alignment withthe direction of stretch.thereby' compensating by their effective length increase for thediminution in elasticity which they sulfer as a result of theirthickness.

2. Knit hosiery having an elastic strain absorbing zone integrally knitfrom ne gage covered rubber elastic yarn, of such width `as to have aninherent tendency to objectionable curling, the elastic rubber fabric insaid 'zone Ibeing formed with thickened portions resisting the tendencyto curl comprising short bars extending transversely with respect to thewidth of said zone andarranged in a. band spaced from the top and bottomedges of said zone extending circumferentially of said zone.

3. Knit hosiery having an elastic strain absorbing zone integrally knitfrom fine gage covered elastic rubber yarn, of such width as to have aninherent tendency to 'objectionable curling, the elastic rubber fabricin said zone being formed with thickened portions resisting the tendencyto curl comprising short bars arranged transversely in a band of lesswidth than said zone extending circumferentially of said zone, said barsbeing oblique with respect to the width dimension o'f said band andmovable as a whole when said strain absorbing zone is stretched to aposition in which they lie in the longitudinal direction of the hose,thereby compensating by their movement as a whole for such diminution intheir elasticity as results from their relative thickness.

4.- Knit hosiery having an elastic strain absorbing zone integrally knitunder'tension from ne gage covered elastic rubber yarn'` of auch' widthas to have an inherent tendency to obectionable curling due torelaxation of the it nsicn under which it is knit, the elastic rubberfabric in said zone vbeing formed with means for resisting the saidtendency to curling, said 1 .fans consisting of la circumferentialseries of La sversely extending `rows of conventional law Stitches, withintervening bars thickened thro-url the presence of the loopstransferred in the for mation of said stitches.

5. Knit hosiery having an elastic strainA absorbing zone integrally knitfrom fine gage covered elastic rubber yarn, of such width as to have aninherent tendency to objectionable curling, the elastic rubber fabric insaid zone being formed with means for resisting the said tendency tocurling, said means comprising a circumferential series of transverselyextending` RICHARD H. SCHER.

